m staying with the energy sector, a u.s. oil giant, exxon mobil's, has posted 2012 earnings just shy of $45 billion. yes, that was billion. the second highest ever for a publicly held company, despite slight declines in its oil and gas business, the company improve its bottom line by about 6% compared to 2011. strong performance from exxon's refinery division helped drive the growth. the $45 billion mark is just a couple hundred million dollars shy of the all-time record set back in 2008 by -- you guessed it -- exxon. better than expected employment data out of the united states along with positive earnings numbers fueled strong gains this friday. our correspondent said as the summary of the trading session in frankfurt. >> the people here on the frankfurt floor seemed headed for a quiet end to the week, but then the united states came into the picture. economic news came in first from the labor market. it was so-so, but then data came from the housing market and from the manufacturing sector, and both looked much better tha